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Home Global Economy The billionaire and the small town: How Elon Musk’s Tesla “Gigafactory” causes a stir
Global Economy

The billionaire and the small town: How Elon Musk’s Tesla “Gigafactory” causes a stir

Traffic is roaring on Landesstraße 38. Manuela Hoyer still has to take a deep breath when she looks across the street. On the cranes and excavators, the production hall and parking lots. “It really hurts my heart,” she says. Actually, she is reluctant to come to her “place of horror”. But sometimes it just has to be.

Place of horror or sign of progress? In any case, Germany’s currently most controversial construction site seems strangely anonymous. No large advertising sign explains what is being created here. Only those who look closely will discover the company logo with the T-shaped cross section of an electric motor on a red background on a container building. And at the very front, a green street sign shows the way: Tesla-Straße.

Here in Grünheide in the Oder-Spree district, next to the A10 motorway and half an hour’s train ride from Berlin, the electric car manufacturer’s first plant in Europe is being built.

Tesla is building its “most modern and sustainable factory” in Brandenburg

As is well known, nothing is too big for company founder and skyrocketer Elon Musk. This also applies to the “Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg”. It will be Tesla’s “most modern, most sustainable and most efficient production facility,” according to the company’s website. Up to 500,000 Model Y electric cars are to be manufactured here each year.

In 2019, the company acquired the 300-hectare forest property for 43.4 million euros, which had long been earmarked for an industrial settlement. It would be Tesla’s fourth gigafactory worldwide: after Reno (Nevada), Buffalo (New York) and Shanghai, now comes Grünheide (Brandenburg).

Manuela Hoyer: “Has nothing to do with sustainable automobile production”

Manuela Hoyer grew up in West Berlin, later lived in the Black Forest and learned to appreciate life in nature there. Grünheide has been her home for almost 30 years. When she heard about Tesla’s factory plans in 2019, she first threw up her hands over her head – and then founded the Grünheide citizens’ initiative with a clear goal: No to the Gigafactory.

Why actually? After all, electric mobility can pave the way to a future in which people can move around without dirty combustion cars. In addition, the factory could create jobs and prosperity for the region, turning the 9,000-inhabitant town of Grünheide into a new Wolfsburg. Only greener and more modern.

“I say no,” says Manuela Hoyer, pointing to the other side of the street. “For me, this has nothing to do with sustainable automobile production.” For Hoyer, the forest that Tesla has already cleared is more than just a timber plantation. For 30 years they have been working on converting the pine forest into a resilient mixed forest. Above all, the citizens’ initiative is concerned about what lies beneath the plant: the drinking water.

Major project in the water protection area

The plant is being built in a water protection area. The citizens’ initiative and the Nature Conservation Union (NABU) fear that the planned battery factory, the concrete piles that have already been driven into the ground and the large-scale sealing will have a massive impact on drinking water. The plant will also use a lot of water.

When Elon Musk himself invited to his area at an open day in Grünheide in October, he said with a view of the pine forest that everything is nice and green here. Not only the project opponents shook their heads. There is already a water shortage in the region: in the hot summers of recent years, the population was asked to save water.

And then there’s an anecdote: Some time ago, a member of the citizens’ initiative wanted to build a small extension to his house, says Manuela Hoyer. There was no permit. Because the house is in a water protection area.

David versus Goliath

Ten to 20 people are involved in the citizens’ initiative, it’s a battle between small and large, David against Goliath: a small group of environmentalists against the richest man in the world.

Does she sometimes feel alone? “Of course,” says Manuela Hoyer. Greenpeace have not yet shown up here. The Greens support the project in the Brandenburg state government. At the request of our editors, the responsible Ministry of the Environment does not want to comment on possible consequences for drinking water: While the approval process is still ongoing, no information can be given on these questions.

“We don’t know what else has to happen for people to wake up,” says Manuela Hoyer. Still, she doesn’t want to give up. After all, as a “small bunch” you’ve already achieved a lot. “If it hadn’t been for us, they would have been producing here since July.”

Building permit is still pending

By German standards, Tesla has built its plant at breathtaking speed. Originally, the first cars should have officially rolled off the assembly line in the summer. Although the plant is almost complete, the final building permit from the State Office for the Environment is still pending. More than 800 objections to the project were received from associations and the public.

Originally it was said that the decision should be made by the end of 2021. Nothing came of it. If Tesla does not get the approval, it would have to demolish the entire plant. But nobody really expects a no here. Not even the project opponents.

A decision from the State Office for the Environment is expected in the coming weeks. The state government has signaled that a yes is likely. But the dispute will not go away because there could be lawsuits.

In any case, Manuela Hoyer wants to continue. “That sounds stupid now, but: I will fight to the last breath. I will continue to throw a spanner in the works.”

Hoyer is certain that Tesla will grow. The state road in front of the plant is to be widened to four lanes. The Fangschleuse train station, which connects Grünheide with Berlin, is to be moved closer to the plant. If Tesla pulls through all stages of expansion, the site will one day be larger than the VW plant in Wolfsburg, believes Manuela Hoyer. “This is just the beginning. The beginning of the end.”

Isn’t climate change more of a threat to groundwater?

For Christine de Bailly, on the other hand, the Tesla factory could be the start of something good. “I love development and I think it’s wrong to oppose it.” The communications trainer belongs to the “GrünheideNetzWerk” association, to which two initiatives have merged. The members follow the development of the work, document the creation with drone shots and information on social media.

One remains very factual, emphasizes de Bailly. But the members of the association are definitely with technical enthusiasm and benevolence in the matter. Christine de Bailly doesn’t drive a Tesla herself, but she is very enthusiastic about another electric car. “I’m now a Tesla fan,” she says.

From their point of view, the project opponents are targeting the wrong people when they accuse the US company of environmental crimes. Of course, the water in the region has decreased in recent years. But that is not Tesla’s fault, but a consequence of climate change, which has been visible and tangible here for a long time.

And the pollution of the groundwater? Here, too, everyone has to take a good look at themselves, says Christine de Bailly. Some time ago, on “Clean Up Day”, she freed nature from the affluent waste, pulled cigarette butts, old diapers, fast-food bags and roofing felt out of bushes and lake shores. “We have to ask ourselves: What are we doing for the environment, for the groundwater? Finally, these questions are coming more into focus. The awareness of what a beautiful spot we live in here only developed with Tesla.”

Also read: Tesla is recalling almost half a million cars

Tesla wants to be the largest instructor in the state

For the state government, the settlement of Tesla was a coup. Grünheide prevailed in a competition against competitors from all over Europe. Brandenburg wants to become a “pioneer of the energy and mobility transition in Germany” with the factory. On its website, Tesla promises to be the largest employer for trainees in all of Brandenburg. With offers in 20 professions.

Grünheide consists of several districts that nestle along streams and lakes. No matter where you look: somewhere you can usually see forest and water. Brandenburg from its most beautiful side. The municipality will not become a big city with Tesla – the proponents do not expect that either. Space for new residential buildings is scarce, and many of the future workforce will probably commute to work from Berlin.

Nevertheless, Christine de Bailly hopes for impulses for Grünheide: training places for the young people of the community, maybe also money for their own cultural center, for investments in schools and daycare centers. “Something like that can develop together with the factory.” For them, the settlement offers a win-win situation: “We should use it to achieve our own regional goals.”

Christine de Bailly: “We should make the world a better place together”

Christine de Bailly runs a community center that also houses a Tesla information office. She is convinced that the majority of the population now supports the project – not least thanks to clear information. “We should improve the world together and not trip each other up,” she says.

Outside on the market square, an elderly gentleman is waiting in front of the supermarket. What does he think of the whole Tesla thing? “It’s really good for the region,” he says, raising his hand and rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. “Where do we still have factories here?”

And the water? Yes, the water, says the older gentleman and looks a little more thoughtful. He has his own well at home. “If they pump the water out of me – then I’ll open my mouth too.”

Sources used:

Gespräch mit Manuela Hoyer, Bürgerinitiative Grünheide, Gespräch mit Christine de Bailly, GrünheideNetzWerk e.V., stk.brandenburg.de: Häufig gestellte Fragen zur Tesla-Ansiedlung, Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Umwelt und Klimaschutz Brandenburg, Pressestelle, Tesla.com: Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg

    Conversation with Manuela Hoyer, Grünheide citizens’ initiativeConversation with Christine de Bailly, GrünheideNetzWerk e.V.stk.brandenburg.de: Frequently asked questions about the Tesla settlementBrandenburg Ministry for Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection, press officeTesla.com: Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg

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